Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-08-18
CHAPTER 1.-THE BLACK HAND.

CHAPTER 1.-THE BLACK HAND.
In due course we left Lamu, and ten days
afterward we found ourselves at a spot
called Charra, on the Tana river, having
gone through many adventures which need
not be recorded here. Among other things
we visited ruined city, of which there
are many on this coast, and which must
once, to judge from their extent and the
numerous remains of mosques and stone
houses, have been very populous places
These ruined cities are UNNECESSARILY an
cient, having, / believe, been places of
wealth and Importance as far back as the
Old Testament times, when they were
centers of trade with India and elsewhere
But their glory has departed noW-the
slave trade has finished them-and where
once wealthy merchants from all parts of
the civilized world stood and bargained
in the crowded market-places, the lion
holds his court at night, and, instead of the
chattering of slaves and the eaf voices
of the bidders, his awful note goes echoing
down the ruined Corridors At this par
ticular place we discovered on a mound,
covered up with rank growth and rubbish,
two of the most beautiful stone door-Ways
that it is possible to conce e. The carving
on them was simply exquisite, ard I only
regret that we had no means of getting
them away. No doubt they had once been
the entrances to palace, of which, how
ever, no traces were now to be seen, unless,
indeed, they lay under the rising mound.
Gonel quite gone! the way that every
thing must 60 Like the mobiles and the
ladies who lived within their gates, these
cities have had their day; and now they
are as Babylon and Nineveh, and as Lon
don and Paris will one day be- Nothing
May endure; that is the memorable law
Men and women; empires and cities;
thrones, principalities, and powers; noun
tains, rivers, and unfathomed seas; worlds,
spaces and univerSes-all have their day.
and all must go. In this ruined and for
gotten place the moralist may behold a
symbol of the universal destiny For this
system of ours allows no room for standing
still; nothing can loiter on the road and
check the progress of things upward to-
ward Life, or the rush of things downward
toward Death. The stern policeman, Fate.
moves us and them on, on, uphill and
doWnhill, and across the level; there is nc
resting-place for the weary feet till at last
the abyss swallows US, and from the shores
of the Transitory we are hurled into the
Sea of the Eternal.
At Charra we had a violent quarrel with
the head man of the bearers we had hired
to go as far as this, and who now wished tC
extort large extra payment from us. In
the result he threatened to set the Masa
about whom more anOn-On to US. That
night he, with all our hired bearers, bolted,
stealing most of the goods which had been
intrusted to them to carry. Luckily, how
ever, they had not happened to steal om
rifles, ammunition, and personal effects
not because of any delicacy of feeling Oh
their part, but owing to the fact that they
CHANGED to be in the charge of the Wax
waits. After that, it was clear to us that
we had had enough of caravans and OF
bearers. Indeed, we had not much left fol
a caravan to carry. And yet, how were we
to get on?
1t was Good who solved the question
Here is water" he said pointing to the
Tana river; land yesterday | saw a party
of natives hunting hippopotami in canoes
/ understand that Mr.. Mackenze's mission
station is on the Tana river. Why not get
into canoes and paddle up to it,"
This brilliant suggestion was, needless
to say, received with reclamation; and i
instantly set to work to buy suitable
canoes from the surrounding natives
succeeded, after a delay of three days, in
obtaining two large ones, each followed
out of single log of some light wood, and
capable Of holding six people and baggage.
For these two canoes we had to pay nearly
all our remaining cloth, and also many
other articles.
On the day following our purchase Of
the two canoes we effected start. In the
first canoe were Good, Sir Henry, and three
of our Wakwaf1 followers; in the second,
myself, Umslopogaas, and the other two
Wakwafis. As our course laid up stream
we had to keep four paddles at work in each
canoe, which meant that the whole lot Of
use, except Good, had to row away like
galley-slaves; and very eXhausting work it
was. | say except Good, for, of course,
the moment that Good got into boat his
foot was on his native heath and he took
command of the party. And oh, my word,
didn't he work u.s. On shore, Good is a
gentle, mild-mannered man, and given to
jocosity; but, as we found to our cost Good
in boat was a perfect demon. To begin
with, he knew all about it, and we didn't.
On all nautical subjects, from the torpedo
fittings of man-of-war down to the best
way of handling a paddle on an African
canoe, he was perfect mine of informa-
ton, which, to say the least of it, we were
not Afso his ideas of discipline were of
the sternest, and, in short, h came the
royal naval officer over US pretty consider
ably, and paid us out amply for all the
| chaH we We're wont to treat him to on land;
| but, on the other hand, am bound to say
| that he managed the boats admirably.
After the first day Good succeeded, with
help of some cloth and couple of poles,
in rigging up a sail in each canoe, which
hghtened our labors not little But the
current ran very strong against us, and at
| the best we were not able to make more
than twenty miles a day. Our plan was to
start at dawn, and paddle along till about
half-past ten, by which time the sun got too
hot to allow of further exertion. Then we
moored our canoes to the bank, and ate our
frugal meal; after which we slept or other
wise amused ourselves till about three
O'Clock, when we again started, and rowed
till within an hour of shutdown, when we
called halt for the night. On landing in
the evening, Good would at once set to
work. with the help of the Askari. to build